court packing

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/11/2022
  

  The "Dead Hand" on the Supreme Court

  by Ronald Brownstein

  The Supreme Court's conservative majority has been nominated by presidents and confirmed by senators who represent rural, white, Christian conservatives in an increasingly diverse country. Court historian Jeff Shesol says this dynamic has threatened the court's legitimacy in the past. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/7/2022
  

  Stephen Vladeck: Bring Back the Second Part of FDR's SCOTUS Reform Plan

  by Stephen Vladeck

  As the Supreme Court adopts a posture of governing by injunction before lower court appeals run their course, should revive FDR's proposal that cases seeking to throw out state or federal rules be heard by special panels, not single judges chosen through jurisdiction-shopping. 

• 
• 5/2/2021
  

  FDR's Court Packing Plan Backfired in the South. Will Biden Repeat The Error?

  by James C. Cobb

  FDR's court packing efforts were based in a miscalculation of the president's political capital, especially with southern Democrats. It seems like Joe Biden is working to avoid similar overreach.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  4/15/2021
  

  The Democrats’ Court-Packing Plan Doesn’t Make Any Sense

  Writer Matt Ford argues that the proposed Judiciary Act will fail to address the political problems that the Democrats are reacting to. Is there a better approach? 

• 
• SOURCE: WNYC
  11/2/2020
  

  The History of 'Court Packing'

  Historian Julian Zelizer discusses the history and fallout of FDR's 1937 plan to "pack" the court, and similarities and differences that might come into play in 2021. 

• 
• 11/1/2020
  

  Reconsidering "Court Packing" as Restoring Governing Norms

  by Greg Bailey

  The Republicans' choice to push through Amy Coney Barrett's nomination with the backing of a minority of the country means a new Congress must consider corrective action in the name of justice and democracy.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/27/2020
  

  Pack the Courts

  by Larry Kramer

  The former Dean of Stanford Law School argues "once cooperation breaks down, the only play to restore it is tit-for-tat. It’s the only way both sides can learn that neither side wins unless they cooperate."

• 
• 10/25/2020
  

  FDR Was Right to Propose Enlarging the Court

  by James D. Robenalt

  Franklin Roosevelt's error in 1937 was not to propose expanding the court, it was to fail to explain and defend his popular political reasons for doing so.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  10/14/2020
  

  The Case Against Packing the Court

  by Jeff Shesol

  The main risk for Biden isn't that court packing would escalate partisan war over the courts. It's that it might destroy his own Democratic coalition. 

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  10/12/2020
  

  Why History Shows 'Court Packing' Isn't Extreme

  by Nicole Hemmer

  The politicized change in the size of the court has already happened. It occurred in 2016, when a Republican-controlled Senate allowed the court to shrink to eight justices. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  10/12/2020
  

  Packing the Court: Amid National Crises, Lincoln and His Republicans Remade the Supreme Court to Fit their Agenda

  by Calvin Schermerhorn

  In remaking the court in Republicans’ image, the party got what it wanted – but not what was needed to fulfill the promise of “a new birth of freedom.”

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/24/2020
  

  FDR Tried to Pack the Supreme Court During the Depression. It Was a Disaster for Him.

  Franklin Roosevelt's efforts to expand the Supreme Court to overcome conservative hostility to the New Deal didn't go well for him, though patience paid off as his judicial antagonists retired or died during his presidency.

• 
• SOURCE: National Geographic
  9/20/2020
  

  Why The Supreme Court Ended Up With Nine Justices—And How That Could Change

  The number of Supreme Court justices is a matter of legislation and custom, not a constitutional mandate. That number has changed across American history. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/12/19
  

  FDR’s court-packing scheme was a ‘humiliating’ defeat

  Yet the idea has been revived by some of the liberals seeking the presidency.

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  11-19-18
  

  The Supreme Court justices control whether court-packing ever happens

  by Thomas M. Keck

  They must give the elected branches room to address societal needs.